


the water's getting deep (i sense it now)

by lostinanotherworld24



Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drowning, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hospitals, Near Death Experiences, Protective Older Brothers, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24545089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinanotherworld24/pseuds/lostinanotherworld24
Summary: A fun day at the beach becomes a near tragedy for one member of Bravo. Will he survive, or will this be his time to shine?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	the water's getting deep (i sense it now)

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning: this story contains explicit mentions of drowning, and graphic details of a near-drowning. please do not read if this bothers you in any way, shape or form. 
> 
> thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave a comment letting me know what you thought!

“Uncle Clay, come play!” Jameelah shouted from the waves, pink swimsuit bright against the cerulean-colored water. Clay grinned and tagged Sonny into the beach volleyball game, passing the ball off easily and jogging into the surf. It was a gorgeous summer’s day, hot without being humid or overbearing. Bravo had claimed a little section of beach for themselves and was enjoying the time spent with each other and their families. 

Jameelah and RJ were delighted at the arrival of their favorite uncle and soon demanded he participate in games such as “Who Can Find the Most Seashells,” , and a rousing round of Marco Polo. for which they even managed to snag Jason and Trent. After a while, Naima called the kidlets back to shore, an orange bottle of sunscreen in hand. Clay was just about to follow them when something caught his eye beneath the waves, a hulking shadow that promised adventure. 

With a quick look back at his team, Clay sucked in a breath and dove beneath the waves, eyes opening easily a moment later. As he swam closer to the shadow, he realized his suspicions had been correct: a large shipwreck lay on the ocean floor, apparently undiscovered. As he maneuvered in and out of the skeleton of the ship, he couldn’t help but be reminded of Ariel in  _ The Little Mermaid,  _ a comparison he would make sure to never share with his team. 

After a few minutes, his chest started to tighten, and his lungs itched with the urge for air. He began to kick to propel towards the surface when a sharp yank tugged him downwards. To his horror, his ankle had become entangled in a rope half weaved into a knot, and the more he tugged the tighter it became. Clad only in his swimming trunks, without any form of weaponry, Clay knew he was pretty well fucked unless he could free himself soon. 

A wave of panic wanted to rise within him, but he forced it away. The first step would be searching for some sharp object he could cut through the rope with, such as a sharp piece of wood or something. To his horror, nothing lay within the immediate vicinity, and everything he tried did jack shit. 

The second step would be to see if he could undo the rope himself. His lungs were now screaming for oxygen and demanded that he take a breath  _ right now.  _ Fuck, how long had he been under? Three, four minutes? He knew he could hold his breath longer than most, but not  _ that  _ much more, and his time was coming to a perilous close. With a mental squaring of the shoulders, he pushed those thoughts aside and got to work, ignoring the way his fingers trembled a little. 

It soon became clear that he wouldn’t manage in time, the knot too thick and tight to be easily undone. Panic shredded every ounce of calm, and he began kicking as hard and as fast as he could. His arms sliced through the water again and again, to no avail. Too deep to affect the surface, he was going to die terrified and alone. Beyond desperation now, his hands flew to his throat, which wailed for air that he couldn’t provide.

Finally, it happened. Unable to withstand a single second more, his mouth opened without his permission, and water poured in. Black spots splashed across his vision, and his head started tilting; every muscle relaxed and he folded in on himself. He was so tired, he’d just take a little nap…

_ No!  _ A little voice that sounded suspiciously like Brian yelled,  _ your team is coming. Do  _ **not** _ close your eyes. Just hold on a little longer Clay.  _

_ Sorry, Brian,  _ he thought, before letting his head droop forward. 

XXXX 

Jason squinted against the afternoon sunshine, mentally counting his team members out of habit. The guys could find trouble in a padded room while wearing straitjackets, so he didn’t necessarily trust them around open water, Navy SEALs or not. Especially Spenser, that kid breathed trouble like others did oxygen. Speaking of…. 

He scanned the various groups clustered together once more, heart quickening as he failed to locate Spenser. Wasting no time, he shoved himself to his feet and called Spenser’s name. Everyone halted and instinctually searched those around them for Bravo Six, all coming back with blank stares and head shakes. 

“Uncle Clay went to go look at something, Uncle Jason,” Jameelah informed him, pointing out towards the waves. He knelt and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

“How long ago was that?” 

“Right before me and RJ came back for more sunscreen.” 

...And they had been back on the beach for at least five minutes. 

Jason absolutely  _ could not  _ help the fact that he slipped into mission mode, and barely noticed the tone in which he barked orders. 

“Bravo Two, Bravo Three in the water with me! Bravo Four have your med bag ready, and Bravo Five call 911, have them here ASAP!” 

Together, they rushed towards the water and dove, the salt stinging their open eyes. Deeper and deeper they swam, hoping with every pass of their hands to latch onto an arm or a leg. As their searches continually failed to turn up anything, Jason’s heart felt like it might grow wings and fly out of his chest. Suddenly Ray tapped his shoulder, and he finally saw what he had been searching for: a blonde head of hair slumped down onto a still chest. Jason’s heart dropped when he saw the cord of rope tangled around Six’s ankle. 

Sonny flipped open a knife and sawed away the rope, while Jason looped Clay’s lax arms around his neck, and broke the surface faster than ever before. Trent stood waiting by spread-out beach towels, and together they gently laid Clay down. His skin held a blueish tint, lips nearly the color of a robin’s egg 

Wasting no time, Trent began pushing down on Clay’s chest, movements strong and steady, with Brock performing the rescue breaths. They continued like that for what seemed like forever before Brock tapped Trent and they changed positions. In that pattern, they went on, until the water finally spurted from Clay’s open lips. Hacking coughs tore from his chest, and Trent gently maneuvered him until he was propped on his side to facilitate the expulsion of water. 

The paramedics arrived then, promptly loading Clay on a stretcher and in the ambulance. Jason couldn’t follow all the dialogue that flew between Trent and the EMTs, but he knew enough to pick out words like  _ acidosis, hypercapnia,  _ and  _ dysrhythmias.  _ With a shaking hand, he wiped clinging water droplets off his face and turned to tell Emma to pack up their stuff, only to find her just beyond his left elbow with their beach bag in hand. Mikey stood beside her, goggles around his neck and t-shirt back on his chest.

The wonder of having such smart, intuitive kids overcame his fright from earlier, and he pulled them into an uncharacteristically long hug. Emma endured it for a few moments, before placing a hand on his shoulder and gently pushing away. Ray and Naima were busy packing up their stuff, along with Brock and his girlfriend. Sonny’s truck had been pulled around to load some of the bigger items into, which Lisa and he were in the process of doing. Jason gave one more glance around and startled a little at the unexpected hand on his shoulder. 

Trent’s gaze bounced back to the beach, and he shook his head wearily. The lines in his face were deeper than normal, exhaustion from the adrenaline spike and crash evident. Jason clapped him on his shoulder, and pulled him in, hoping the touch would ground him. 

"There was a second there, Jace, that I honestly thought he wasn’t going to make it. He’d been under too long, inhaled too much water…plus you  _ know  _ he fought like hell to try and get back to the surface. I really thought we were going to have to bury him.”

“But we won’t. We did save him, and he’s at the hospital now, alive and breathing thanks to you. Focus on the good, okay?” 

“What the hell was he doing under there, anyway?” 

Jason laughed a little because Trent was going to lose his shit when he found out, and Clay would fully deserve it.

“Kid spotted an old shipwreck, I guess he’d thought he’d go exploring. Got his foot tangled in a rope knot, that’s what kept him down there.” 

Trent’s eyes got as wide as dinner plates, and he opened his mouth to unleash a torrent of words. Jason held up his hands and watched Trent visibly bite back everything he so clearly wanted to say. Now that the excitement was all over, he too was itching to give a certain blond sniper a lecture about not exploring old shipwrecks without proper diving equipment.

“The next time Clay gets into any body of water, don’t matter if it’s a bathtub or the Dead Sea, I vote we make him wear water wings,” Sonny sidled up next to Jason and Trent.

Although Jason saw right through Bravo Three's attempt to lighten the tension, a part of him couldn't help but agree with the idea. Only Clay could find an old shipwreck, to begin with, and then find an old tangled rope to get his ankle hooked into on top of it. 

"Kid's just damn lucky Jameelah saw where he went, or this might have had a very different ending," Jason huffed as he ran a hand through his closely-cropped hair. 

Sonny and Trent made noises of concurrence before they parted ways to finish cleaning up the remnants of their little beach excursion, thoughts miles away in a hospital... 

XXXX 

Clay came to in a hospital bed, the emotionless sound of a monitor beeping above him. A quick exploration revealed a nasal cannula in his nose, and tubes taped into his hand. Trent sat by his bed, head tipped back in sleep. Someone had dragged in a rollaway bed at some point, with Jason asleep curled up on it. 

The nose thing itched pretty bad, and the IV in his hand sort of hurt, so he made quick work disposing of both of those. As was his luck, doing that triggered alarms from the monitor, and both Jason and Trent shot to their feet, tension dissipating when they realized he was awake and still breathing. 

"What are you doing? No, don't touch that," Jason slapped Clay's hand away while a nurse reconnected everything. The beeping stopped, and she quickly examined him, proclaiming him to be doing well. She left then, and he was alone with two upset teammates. 

"What happened?" He wondered, nose twitching at the persistent itch. 

"Do you not remember?" 

"Not beyond playing with Jameelah and RJ, no." 

"You dove down to explore an old shipwreck that you found; your plans got a bit derailed when your foot got caught in a tangled bit of rope. Luckily, we realized you were gone and managed to find you in time. The doctors were worried about complications such as pneumonia or brain damage; they did some tests and it looks like you're gonna be alright. You just exhausted yourself trying to get free and needed some serious rest. You've been asleep for something like 8 hours," Jason grinned at him. 

Trent did _not_ share Jason's elation and shot Clay a faux-angry glare. Clay sheepishly grinned and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. It didn't take a genius to guess who had been medically responsible for making sure he survived long enough to get off that beach, and he had truly never meant to put Trent in that situation. He'd never induce terror in his teammates deliberately, but especially when they were off-mission and safe at home. 

"Well, I didn't do it alone. Ray, Sonny, and Jason were who saved you," Trent's voice broke through his thoughts. "Brock helped me double-team CPR, and even took over when I got tired." 

The seriousness of that statement was a bit off-set by a flying fur missile that landed directly on his prone body. Cerb licked and sniffed over every inch of Clay's face, while Clay petted every square bit of fur he could reach. Brock came in a second later, with Ray and Sonny hot on his heels. Clay gave them all a grateful smile but made sure Brock's had a little bit extra. It wasn't the first time Clay's life had been in Bravo Five's hands, but never quite so literally. 

Sonny ruffled his hair, and somehow produced a pair of water wings, tossing them on Clay's lap with a laugh. Clay rolled his eyes but endured the teasing in good humor. He knew it was their way of alleviating the left-over terror from earlier. It was what they all did after a particularly frightening mission, and more than looked forward to giving as good as he got the next time somebody else did something stupid. Which considering this group’s track record, wouldn’t be very long… 

Or so he hoped, judging from the chuckles he was still hearing. 


End file.
